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Lief
Lief is the current King of Deltora and the husband of Jasmine. He is the son of King Endon and Queen Sharn. Lief, along with Jasmine and Barda, found the lost gems of the Belt of Deltora and banished the Shadow Lord from the land of Deltora. Afterwards he went on a quest with them to find the three lost parts of the fabled Pirran Pipe, the only weapon said to be powerful enough to fight the Shadow Lord within his own domain. With Barda and Jasmine he ventured into the Shadowlands and used the Pirran Pipe against the Enemy, freed the imprisoned Deltorans and brought them back safe. On their last quest together, Lief, Barda and Jasmine reunited the seven last surviving dragons of Deltora, defeated four dangerous creatures who were slowly killing the land with a poisoned song and stopping the Shadow Lord's last plan to conquer the land. Lief grew up in Del, in Topaz territory and is from the Del tribe. History Early life Sharn was pregnant with Lief toward the end of Part I of The Forests of Silence, and Endon mentioned that he would be born at summer's end. Lief was taught math and reading by his mother Sharn, and his father Endon taught him to fight with a sword. It is likely that his father also taught him how to work the forge. During Lief's childhood and most of his teenage years his parents disguised themselves as the blacksmith Jarred and his wife Anna, who they had switched place with after the Shadow Lord invaded Deltora and stole the gems from the Belt of Deltora. Even Lief did not know that he was the heir to the throne. Lief's parents made him study the history of Deltora, but they rarely spoke of the time just before Lief was born. They said the Shadow Lord had spies everywhere and that it was best to be silent. Lief's friends were not afraid of the Shadow Lord and they had told him that before the Shadow Lord took Del in pocession the palace on the hill in the center of the city had been almost hidden by a shimmering mist, but when the Shadow Lord came the mist had disappeared and the palace had been clearly visible. They also told him that the king had been weak, lazy, and careless, and done nothing to serve his people. His only task had been to guard the magic Belt of Deltora, but he had allowed it to be stolen, and opened the way for the Shadow Lord to invade. Lief's friends thought the king was dead, and Lief himself thought it a good thing. In his mind it was a fitting punishment for the suffering the king had brought to the people. ''The Forests of Silence'' and Jasmine as they appear in the anime.]] On Lief's sixteenth birthday, "Jarred" and "Anna" had allowed Lief to take a day off from work and spend time with his friends in the city. Lief's father had told him that there would be another gift later that night, and things they had to discuss together. In the city Lief met his friends. They teased the stall-holders in the markets, ran up and down alleyways, dodged Grey Guards and looked for silver coins in the choked, overflowing gutters. In a overgrown patch of ground not far from the palace walls they found a twisted old apple tree covered with fruit. It had been declared that all fruits in Del were the property of the Shadow Lord but this tree had been forgotten. They picked as many apples they could carry and went into the drain-tunnel under the city to eat them in secret. The apples were small and spotted, but sweet, and they enjoyed them all the better knowing they had stolen them from the Shadow Lord. An hour before sunset Lief's friends left and hurried home. Lief decided to stay and explore the drain-tunnels. He discovered a small drain-tunnel branching off the main, which he thought must lead to the palace. He crawled through the tunnel as far as he dared, and then turned back, promising to follow it another day. Then he emerged from the tunnels night had already fallen. Now Lief was in danger, since it was forbidden to be out in the city after sunset. This was one of the Shadow Lord's strictest laws and had been put into force the day he took procession of Del, sixteen years ago. The penalty for breaking it was death. Lief was heading home when two Grey Guards turned a corner ahead and came towards him. The Guards were conversing and had not noticed Lief or caught his sense. High walls, dripping with slimy water and covered in slippery moss, surrounded him on either side. Lief flattened himself against the wall so as not to be seen. A clatter sounded in the corner behind the Grey Guards and they ran to the sound. Lief turned but something hit his shoulder. It was a rope hanging from the top of the wall. He quickly climbed the rope, reached the top of the wall and swung himself into a large tree on the other side. He crouched in a fork between two branches and found that the rope had been tied around the tree's trunk. There were no sign of who had done it, but Lief believed that it was the same person who had distracted the Grey Guards. Lief pulled up the rope after him, untied it, coiled it and swung it over his shoulder. Lief climbed down. He was in the backyard of what had been Del's biggest pottery. A group here had tried to resist the Shadow Lord and planned to overthrow him. He had found out and the pottery had been burned down, and its door had been branded with the Shadow Lord's sign. The brand meant that the pottery were never to be used again or entered. Lief wound his way through huge piles of smashed pots, overgrown with weeds. The two great ovens where the pots had been baked were just ruined heaps of brick. He nearly tripped over a child's wooden horse that had been crushed under the foot of a Grey Guard years ago. When Lief had reached the front of the building he was feeling a sudden, terrible anger. He asked himself why people should suffer under the Shadow Lord. Lief moved out onto the deserted road and looked up at the palace on the hill with hatred. Since the Shadow Lord overtook Del the palace had been his headquarters. Lief reached the fields and began to run, crouching low to hide in the long grass. He could see the lights of his home in the distance and in a few minutes he had reached the gates to the forge yard, run through them and avoided Barda who was walking slowly towards his shelter in the corner. Lief ran through the door to his family's cottage with excuses ready, but in the hour that followed Lief would be severely shocked when his father finally revealed to him what had happened when the Shadow Lord attacked Del. He told him the story of his friendship with King Endon and his life in the palace during his childhood. He told his son how the Belt of Deltora was broken and the seven gems stolen. Lief did not believe what he heard at first. His father told Lief that the king was not dead. He had helped King Endon and Queen Sharn escape the palace when the Shadow Lord attacked and they had gone to the forge. Here the king and queen made themselves look like ordinary working people. They had quickly thought up an escape plan and then parted. Lief's family had kept quiet all these years and obeyed every order given to them so as to not draw the Shadow Lord's attention. Until Lief was ten his father had thought it should have been him who would search for the gems, but then a tree had fallen on him and injured his leg. Lief asked his father how he knew the king's child was alive. His father stood up and took off the brown leather belt he wore around the waist. He cut the stitching at one end with his knife and pulled out the Belt of Deltora from inside the leather belt. His father handed the Belt to his son and explaiend to him that he mended it to make it ready to receive the gems again. He further explained that the Belt is so bound to the blood of Adin that it would have crumbled into pieces if the heir were not alive. Lief could hardly believe that he was holding the Belt of Deltora. He had often read of it in the book ''The Belt of Deltora'' that his father had given him to study. His father said to him that if he would agree to go on the quest he had wear the Belt always until it was complete with the seven gems. He asked Lief if he were willing to do it, and Lief decidedly accepted. Lief then clasped the Belt around his waist, under his shirt. Lief's father told his son that Prandine, a treacherous man who had masqueraded as Endon's chief advisor while secretly serving the Shadow Lord, had said that the gems had been scattered throughout Deltora and hidden in dangerous places where no one would dare to search for them. His father picked up a piece of parchment from the table behind him and unfolded it to reveal a hand-drawn map of Deltora. He told his son that seven Ak-Baba were flying around the palace tower on the day the gems were taken, and they had flown off in different directions. Lief's parents believed that each had carried a gem, and each was going to a particular place to hide it. His father had made the map based on travelers' sightings of lone Ak-Baba hovering above one or another of the seven places on the day the Shadow Lord invaded. Lief’s mother teared up and Lief comforted her and told her that he wanted to do anything in his power to rid Deltora of the Shadow Lord. Lief asked his father where the heir was hiding. His father said that he could not tell him since the heir would be powerless without the Belt and had to remain in hiding until it was complete. He told him that when all the gems were in place the Belt would lead him to the heir. Lief's father took a sword from under his chair. It was his birthday gift for Lief, which he had made on the forge, and it was the finest work he had ever made. His mother was also holding out a gift, a finely woven cloak. It was soft, light and warm, and its colors seemed to change when it moved so that it was hard to tell if it was brown, grey, or green. It resembled river-water in autumn. She had made it with a special fabric, used every art she knew in making it, and woven much love and many memories into it, as well as strength and warmth. Lief's parents had never doubted that he would agree to go on the quest, and food and water were already packed if he wanted to leave within the hour. Lief wanted to begin the quest immediately, but he was surprised, however, when he was told that he would have a companion on his quest. Barda, the local beggar Lief were familiar with, was to join him. Lief was dismayed at this news until he learned that Barda, a palace guard, was only posing as a beggar to gain information from careless Grey Guards and to hide himself behind an effective disguise. Barda had also been protecting Lief for many years without Lief’s knowledge and had, in fact, saved Lief’s life earlier that same night from the Grey Guards. Barda had lived in the palace at the same time as Lief’s father, and he was the son of Endon and Jarred’s nursemaid Min. He had left the palace on the day his mother was killed. His guard's uniform had helped him get through the gates. He had come to the forge in the night and hid himself inside and slept. When he had woken it was day, though it still looked like night since the sky was filled with dark clouds. He had stumbled outside and had seen Lief's parents at the gate sending away two strangers. Lief's father had been startled to see a palace guard coming towards him and had punched him, knocking him out. While unconscious Barda had rambled aloud of who he was and his grief and fear, so Lief’s parents knew who he was and knew he could be trusted. They told Barda who the strangers he had seen were. They had asked for Barda's help in finding the seven gems, and he had accepted. However when Lief’s father was crippled by the falling Barda had decided to go alone on the quest. Lief’s parents had persuaded Barda to take Lief along with him when he was old enough. At first Barda had disagreed, but later he had given in. Lief and Barda set off that eventful night towards the foreboding Forests of Silence where they were saved from the Wennbar by a wild looking girl who lived there. The girl lived in a nest (of sorts) up a tall tree with a small furry animal named Filli, and a raven named Kree. The girl’s name was Jasmine. With Jasmine's help, Lief and Barda confronted the first gem’s guardian, the former Jalis knight Gorl, and defeated him. Barda was mortally wounded by Gorl and would have died without Jasmine's quick thinking and the magical powers of the fabled Lilies of Life. The Topaz was recovered and Jasmine joined them at their quest. ''The Lake of Tears'' A couple of days into their second destination, Lief, Barda and Jasmine reached a bridge with a golden-eyed man holding a curved sword, blocking their path. He forced the trio to answer three questions before they could come across. If they answered correctly, they would be allowed to cross, however if their answers were wrong, he would have to kill them. Jasmine and Barda answered correctly and crossed to the other side. Lief's answer, however, were wrong (due to lack of information). As a result, the man claimed that he must die. Alarmed, Lief claimed that the man was a trickster and deceiver and that he is not surprised that he was doomed to guard the bridge until truth and lies were one. Angered, the giant decides to play another game: deciding which way Lief will die. Lief must say only one sentence, if it is true, the giant will strangle him, if it is false, the giant will cut off his head. Instead, Lief decides to say "My head will be cut off." This answer is true and false, and as a result, Lief cannot be killed and the man is returned to his original form, a bird. The bridge starts crumbling, and in a desperate attempt, Lief runs across it. However, Lief is not fast enough and halfway across, the planks break off, leaving a terrified Lief dangling on the ropes, as he drags himself across. The ropes break, and Lief believes that he is doomed to die, but the man that turned into a bird saves him from hurtling into the hard rock below. Lief is reunited with his companions and the three of them continue on their journey. The trio climbs up a nearby tree to escape a troop of Grey Guards. However, the guards choose the clearing to be their resting area. With the guards is a prisoner. The captive was an exhausted Ralad in chains. Soon, the guards fall asleep and the three companions decide to save the Ralad. However, they were caught, and were forced to run with the Ralad in chains behind a troop of angry guards. While escaping the Guards, they were forced to take a detour - into rich-smelling berries and fruit, which mask the trio's scent from the Grey Guards. The Guards give up on searching for them and laugh as they walk away. The companions decide to go deeper in the valley, where they can get rid of the Ralad man's chains in comfort, and not in fear of being caught. Lief decides to search for food and finds a sign, which appears to be broken in half with the words: "RING AND ENTER" on it. Next to the sign is a bell. He notices a cheery little house and notifies Barda and Jasmine. The three decide to ring the bell, and run towards the house. However, the lawn that they run on is actually quicksand. Floundering and screaming in the quicksand, they finally get the attention of an elderly couple. The couple manage to save the trio and invite them into their cottage. After being saved, Lief finds the second piece of the sign: "WARNING OF QUICK DO NOT". Pieced together, they make the warning sign: "WARNING RING OF QUICKSAND DO NOT ENTER" Barda and Jasmine become suspicious over this, however Lief takes no notice, thankful for the couple for saving him. They introduce themselves as Nij ''and ''Doj and invite the trio into their house. Barda and Lief were thankful, as they miss the delights of home. However, Jasmine is hesitant to enter, as she has never been in a house before and dislikes being in small spaces. Nij and Doj speak in a strange dialect. This does not affect Lief, Jasmine and Barda, as they believe that they were only trying to be helpful. As Jasmine is still uncomfortable and not relaxed at all, she starts worrying about other things. She asks Lief whether the Belt of Deltora is still on his waist. Alarmed and then relieved when the Belt turns out to be still in place, he starts cleaning the topaz of mud. Nij and Doj come back in with food and drink, but instead of talking in their usual dialect, Lief hears many disturbing things. The language they were speaking was not actually a different language at all, but ordinary words turned backwards. The drinks and food were drugged, and Lief is too slow to stop Barda from drinking from his drink. It is in this chapter that Nij and Doj's names were revealed to actually be Jin ''and''Jod, two of Thaegan's children's names spelled in reverse. Desperate to save his friends, Lief realised that cleaning the topaz cleared his mind and the spell placed on and around him. He quickly grabs his friend's hands and forces them on the topaz. All is revealed and the three start devising an escape route. While pretending to be asleep, the bell used to trap the victims is rung yet again and both the monsters go outside to save the person (the Ralad) in the quicksand. Using this diversion, the three run outside, but were trapped due to the ring of quicksand around the house. The Ralad runs out of the house. The three see him and try to rescue him from the monsters. Lief notices that the Ralad keeps pointing to his dirty legs and then towards the quicksand. He realizes that the quicksand in between the leaves conceals a hidden pathway. He tells Barda and Jasmine and the three run towards it, while also trying to save the Ralad from Jin and Jod. Jin and Jod chase after them. Lief, Barda and Jasmine and the Ralad manage to escape through the hidden pathway. Jasmine switches two of the leaves in the quicksand, but is almost captured by Jin and Jod in the process. Jod throws an axe at Jasmine. It hits her shoulder and Jasmine loses her balance and falls into the quicksand. Lief and Barda use Lief's cloak to drag Jasmine out of the quicksand. When he sees Jasmine in danger, Kree returns to help her and is seriously injured by Jin and Jod. Jin and Jod were killed because the leaves were switched. The three and the Ralad were safe. Jasmine uses the nectar from the Lilies of Life to heal Kree, but for her shoulder wound instead chooses use a green cream, saying that the nectar should be used for serious healings. Lief, Barda and Jasmine learn from the Ralad that Thaegan has thirteen evil monster children. One hundred years ago, when the Ralads tried to raise their voices against Thaegan when she turned the great golden city of D'Or into the Lake of Tears, she in turn put a spell upon them, stealing their voice so that they could not speak anymore. Thorns rapidly spread there. The Ralad, whose name is revealed to be Manus, takes them to Raladin, his home town, which they find to be deserted. Grief-stricken and believing his people were lost, Manus withdraws a flute and starts playing it, which summons the people of Raladin. They had built an underground city just beneath Raladin, to hide from Thaegan and the Shadow Lord. Lief, Barda and Jasmine are offered the chance to rest in the city, and three days later they continue their quest with Manus to show the way to the Lake of Tears, despite the reluctance of the Ralad people, who think it is folly to travel to the Lake of Tears. When they get to the Lake of Tears, they find it to be guarded by a giant green sea monster, Soldeen. The three friends fight it, and barely escape with their lives as Lief throws two of the supply packs the Ralads had given them into Soldeen's mouth. The companions spend the night on the rocks near the Lake. As they debate on how to find the gem, the three begin to despair and feel sad, and, touching the topaz, Lief realises that they must fight these feelings. He begs Manus to play his flute, to make them think of times other than this one. As Manus plays, the three listen, entranced, and so do not hear Soldeen's approach until Manus suddenly stops playing out of fear. Soldeen orders Manus to keep playing, which Manus does. Soldeen asked the three what they were doing at the Lake, and Lief tells him that they were searching for a special gem that was dropped into the Lake sixteen years ago. Soldeen reveals that he has the gem, but he refuses to give it up without getting something in return. He names the Ralad man as his price, saying that his music comforts him. Lief, Barda and Jasmine refuse to give up the Ralad man to Soldeen, although Manus is willing. In the fight that follows, Lief uses the mind-clearing power of the topaz to make Soldeen help them, and he makes him show them where the gem that they are looking for, the ruby, is hidden. But Thaegan shows up, attacking them and punishing Soldeen for helping them. Thaegan raises her little finger in order to turn the three into the creatures of the Lake, and it seems all is lost. In order to kill a sorceress or witch, you only need to draw one drop of their blood, but Thaegan is protected by a magic shield. Only the little fingertip of Thaegan's left hand is unshielded, because she uses it to cast her spells. In an attempt to help the three, Kree flies into the air, and as she's about to cast a spell, strikes down, pecking her finger with her beak, and drawing blood. Thaegan then turns into dust, and the Lake's curse is lifted, and turns into the great city of D'Or, which it was before. Soldeen turns into Nanion, husband of Ethena, and chief of the city. And once again the Ralads can talk. Ethena and Nanion give Lief the ruby. Now the Belt of Deltora holds the topaz and the ruby, and the three companions set off toward their next goal, the City of the Rats. ''City of the Rats'' Having obtained the second gem, the Ruby, and defeating the sorceress Thaegan, thus ridding the Ralad lands of her curse, Lief, Barda and Jasmine spent the next two days with the Ralads in their home city of Raladin. Their mission to restore the Belt of Deltora was still a secret to the Ralads, however their victory over the sorceress was known to all of them. During the time they spent in the city many songs of praise were dedicated to the three companions. It was hard for the three to leave Manus and Raladin, but they had to set out as soon as possible to search for the third gem. At afternoon, footsore and weary from walking all day, Lief, Barda and Jasmine were moving west, towards the fabled City of the Rats. They were walking on an uneven road, rutted with the tracks of wagons, threading through a plain where the whole land had been covered in thornbushes. Jasmine complained about the thorns, commenting that they were never-ending. Suddenly Barda caught sight of a glimmer ahead. It was a strange signpost with a horizontal piece which had the word "TOM" written on it. Another piece bottom to that, which resembled a lightning bolt, had the words "Everything for the traveller" written across it, with an arrow pointing ahead. Lief and Barda concluded that there must be a shop nearby, owned by this Tom. Jasmine seemed puzzled by this and Lief realized that she did not understand because she had lived her whole life in the Forests of Silence, living only with what she got, and what she could not get she had to live without. The three continued to walk, talking quietely and trying to forget that they were tired. It soon grew too dark to see, forcing them to light a torch. Barda held the torch and made sure to keep it low, although they knew that they could easily be seen from the air. When Jasmine heard something she told Lief and Barda that they were being followed, not by one, but by many. Since Kree were able not able to see in the dark, it was of no use to send him to scout for their followers. Jasmine concluded that they were at least not Grey Guards, since they moved too quietly and did not march in time. Lief expressed that he thought they should stay and fight, but Barda argued that it would be foolish to try that on a road hemmed in by thorns. So they decided to move on and try and find a better place. Soon the three came by a dead tree standing on one side of the road. When they passed the tree, Lief felt something had changed in the air. Suddenly they heard the sound of long howl, and Jasmine quickly concluded that their followers were wolves, and that they could not outrun them. Jasmine lit two more torches for her and Lief, with the intention to use the fire against the wolves. However Lief realized that their followers were no ordinary wolves when he commented that they only not make any move until they were past the dead tree. More howls were heard, and the wolves appear out of the darkness. Lief quickly counted the wolves and found that there were eleven of them. He realized that they were indeed not wolves, but the last remaining of Thaegan's thirteen monstrous children. The three backed away and were suddenly whipped off their feet and caught in a net, losing all their belongings in the process. Some of the siblings began to pike up thornbushes under the net while others picked up the three's torches, dancing around and chanting, "More heat, more heat, tender juicy roast meat! Watch the fun, till it's done. Hear its groans, crack its bones! More heat, more heat, tender, juicy roast meat!" Lief felt Filli moving against his cheek. Filli started nibbling desperately at the ropes of the net, trying to make a hole large enough for the three to escape. With his quick wits Lief tricked the sibling to fight among themselves, by commenting on how unfair it was that there were thirteen of the siblings while there were only three of themself. with the winner getting the larger share of meat. All were killed with the exception of Ichabod. Meanwhile, Filli and Kree manages to bite through the net. The three then manages to run away from Ichabod. In the morning,they find and enter Tom's shop and buy useful provisions such as Fire Beads, Water Eaters, Glowing Bubbles, and Instant Bread. They also bought three legged animals called Muddlets. Despite Tom's directions, the three did not listen to him and go through the wrong way. The three lost control of the Muddlets as they ran on their own. Lief, Barda and Jasmine followed the Muddlets home, the city of Noradz and become trapped. Noradz has customs that keeps the city vigorously clean. When Filli comes out of hiding from Jasmine's shirt, a Ra-Kacharz mistakes it for a rat and gives the three two choices, to live or to die. Lief was commanded to pick a card labeled either Life or Death out of a cup. Realizing that both cards say Death, Lief tricks the Ra-Kacharz and the three were thrown into prison. A girl named Tira managed to free them and shows them the secret way out, by passing through the kitchen trash tube. They survive the dangers of the tube by wearing the Ra-Kacharz clothes that they stole and finally reached the Broad River. Using the Water Eaters, Lief, Barda, and Jasmine crossed the river, only to find that there was overwhelming population of rats. They managed to escape the deadly rats using the explosive Fire Beads and enter the city's center. The Glowing Bubbles come into use and lights their way as they move through the dark. There, Lief starts to hear voices, which was revealed to be of Reeah's, a huge hydra called the King of Rats. The crown atop of Reeah's head housed the opal. Lief realized that the past inhabitants of the City of the Rats were the people of Noradz. He also realized that "Noradz" was a homophone of "No Rats" and "Ra-Kacharz" was a homophone of "Rat-Catchers". The overrun of rats in their city had caused them to move and take up vigorously clean customs. Also, "Noradzeer", which is repeated very often by the people of Noradz, appears to be a homophone of "No Rats Here". Lief realizes that Reeah had set a trap for them with the monster demanding the Belt of Deltora from him. After a fight and growing bored with talk, Reeah attacks Lief, knocking his sword high into the air, and Barda unconscious with its tail. Lief then attempts to throw his jar of Fire Beads into Reeah's mouth. The bead miss its mark but makes an enormous fire .The monster, then catches Lief in its jaws and raises him high in the air. Jasmine, having climbed into the rafters of the hall, had caught Lief's sword, and sliced Reeah's throat to save Lief – though Lief was nearly killed by the fall because of Reeah's height. Reeah's dead body was devoured by the rats in its city, while the fire that Lief had started ravaged the City of Rats itself. Lief then attaches Opal (found on Reeah's head) in the Belt of Deltora and now they head for the Shifting Sands. ''The Shifting Sands'' The three go on their way towards the Shifting Sands from the City of the Rats when they spot an Ak-Baba in the sky. In order to hide from it, they dive under the River Broad and hide under their cloak. Surprisingly, they were aided by the fish of the river as well, which were rather intelligent. Later, once the threat has passed, they pass by an apple farm owned by an eccentric old woman known as Queen Bee. Hungry and tired, they decide to steal and eat from the apple orchard. Queen Bee reveals that she is not actually a fragile old woman, but a dangerous threat because of the bees that she hides under her shawl. The three were promptly chased off by her deadly bees for stealing. After some time on the road, they reach the town of Rithmere and started hearing about a competition called the Rithmere Games. Thinking they can win some money from it, they attempt to enter. But there is an entrance fee of one silver coin, and they have no money whatsoever. Lief, Jasmine, and Barda decide to let the operator of a game called Beat the Bird borrow Kree to spin the wheel thirty times, for a coin. In Beat the Bird, a bird would spin a wheel after a silver coin was paid. If the wheel lands on a number, the better is paid that number of silver coins. But if the wheel lands on a bird, the better only receives a worthless wooden bird figurine. After thirty turns, Kree senses something is amiss and pulls the table sheet, which reveals that the operator is controlling the wheel through the use of a pedal. The cheating operator then flees, leaving the coins that have fallen off the table sheet to the crowd. Lief, Barda, and Jasmine attempt to take some of the coins, but all that is left is a wooden bird. The three decided to enter the Rithmere Games when they meet a scar-faced man named Doom, who they last saw at Tom's shop. They enter the games, and discover that the "games" were in fact fighting matches. Despite this fact, they enter anyway. Lief, Jasmine, and Barda were locked in their room in the night, but Mother Brightly, the host arrives and saves them. After the fights, Jasmine manages to win the one thousand gold prize for first place. Mother Brightly tells the trio about the secret passageway that they can use to leave. However, upon trying to use it, the trio is ambushed by Grey Guards. It is revealed that there was a scandal that the prize money would be returned to Mother Brightly for the next competition while benefiting from the audience. Lief, Jasmine, and Barda attempt to make off with the coins when Doom comes to them and helps them escape. On foot, they finally reach the walls of the Shifting Sands. Lief starts to hear voices. The three hide from the Grey Guards, who were then eaten by a terrible insectile monster called a Sand Beast. Lief sees the Guards' belongings sinking into the sand and travelling to the center, in a place called the Hive. They arrive at the Hive, and Lief enters the hole full of treasures and replaces the lapis lazuli with the wooden bird to keep the structure of the piling treasures stable. He then climbs out of the Hive just before they were eaten by it. Lief fits the gem into the Belt of Deltora and their quest continues to Dread Mountain. ''Dread Mountain'' Lief receives news from home that his parents have been imprisoned in Del by the Shadow Lord. ''The Maze of the Beast'' ''The Valley of the Lost'' ''Return to Del'' ''Cavern of The Fear'' Lief and Doom head to Tora to (as implied at the time) to find a 'bride.' Lief questions Zean about defeating the Shadow Lord and the subject of the Pirran Pipe arises. Once Lief discovers that Jasmine and Glock have gone to find a secret way into the shadowlands, Lief, Jinks, and Barda follow with Fury. but are captured, then escape and are captured by the Goblins. Reunited with Jasmine and Glock, Lief and Barda make a deal with the Goblins, saying that they would defeat the fear. Lief almost loses his life, but Glock kills the fear, and is honoured by the Plumes People. Lief Barda and Jasmine than take the piece of the Pirran Pipe that Glock had, and head out on the quest to find the other pieces with Flash and Fury. ''The Isle of Illusion'' Lief, Barda, Jasmine, Kree, Filli, Flash and Fury come to the lands of the Aurons tribe. They than launch themselves into the Isle of Illusion, and try to regain the second piece of the Pirran Pipe. ''The Shadowlands'' Lief, Barda, Jasmine, Kree, Filli, Flash, and Fury come to the land of the Keras Tribe, and they agree to give them their piece of the Pirran Pipe for the Belt of Deltora, Lief agrees, and they embark on a mission with a Keras Tribe member named Emlis into the shadowlands, their they are captured by the Bak Pod, and are sentenced to becoming Conversions by Tira and Helena, but Lief plays the pipe leading his people out of the shadowlands into Deltora, and frees Tira and Helena from their Conversion-Worms. ''Dragon's Nest'' ''Shadowgate'' ''Isle of the Dead'' The Sister of the South Discovery and publishing of Secrets of Deltora Physical appearance In the book series, Lief is implied to be relatively tall (he has to look down at Jasmine to speak to her, but is not as tall as Barda), lean, and athletic. He has short, dark hair, which he inherits from his Toran ancestry, indicating that he also has their dark eyes. The only common attire described that he wears is some form of jacket, boots and his ever-present cloak. In Shadowgate he dons the long, oily outfit of a fisherman of Broome for a while as a disguise. After his encounter with the Masked Ones, his face and neck are left scarred after Jasmine pulled off his mask, which was beginning to bond with his skin. In the anime, Lief is depicted with blond hair and blue eyes. He dresses in a light bluish-green jacket, which somewhat resembles a tunic, over a black jumpsuit and wears white gloves and boots. He wears his cloak, which is a dark blue color over his shoulders. Personality Lief has been described by Rodda as being "a pretty cocky street kid. Good-hearted but not necessarily particularly obedient." Lief was once arrogant and careless, however, his various quests have mellowed him into a more careful person. However Barda continually refers to him as being 'hot-headed', which reveals his energetic and action-oriented nature, as well as the tendency to act on whims at times. He is proud and does not take well to learning that Barda was the reason for many of his lucky life-threatening escapes in the past. He is also initially prone to some other childish tendencies, such as feeling jealous when Dain showed admiration towards Jasmine. Despite all this, Lief is compassionate, kind and good-natured. He is still heavily controlled by sentiment, and lets his heart rule his head on many occasions. This is seen in his initial meeting with Jasmine, in which he struggles with the overwhelming perception that she is ruthless and cruel and the fact that the Grey Guards took her parents away when she was a child, forcing her to adopt drastic measures to survive. Later, when he hears of the powers of the Pirran Pipe, this sentiment makes him pursue Jasmine into the underground sea, regardless of there being 'pipe or no pipe' to be found there. Doom admits that this quality is what makes Lief a better king than he himself. Being raised amongst the citizens of Del in ignorance of his true status, Lief is able to feel extraordinary empathy with his subjects, and is more concerned about their health and safety as a result. The residents of Del perceive him as being a generous saviour, and would willingly give him their lives. Abilities Lief's main ability is his speed. Before going out to collect the gems of Deltora, Lief would dart around the alleyways of Del to avoid being captured and killed by the Grey Guards. Even without Barda's help, Lief was said to be able to escape from approaching Guards numerous times. In the Rithmere Games, Barda said Lief should be in the Speed category. Seeing as Lief was able to make it into the finals of the tournament, it shows that Lief is faster than many others. Aside from his physical abilities, Lief has also shown to be good at math, for his mother required him to study the subject. He's also quite crafty and is able to create numerous plans that often help the heroes escape from dangerous foes or defeat them. However, he has several areas where's he not as adept. One being agility, whenever being forced to climb trees after Jasmine or thinking about the games he played with his friends in Del, he would often stumble or be extremely slow compared to the others. He also has trouble keeping a cool head. He is often bickering with Jasmine about some little thing and is quite rash, throwing himself into the face of danger to protect those he loves. Except for when he is told specifically not to try and do anything, then he can keep himself still. Possessions Lief has carried numerous items with him on his journey. However, there are only a few recurring items. Those would be his sword, forged specially by his father, a magical cloak that blends in with its surroundings, sewn by his mother, and the Belt of Deltora. All of these he has used frequently on his journeys. However, due to the fact that the series has very little fight sequences, Lief's sword is hardly ever used in combat. Often it's used to slash away small creatures such as the ones on the edge of the Lake of Tears and the beetles of the Shadowlands. However, he has used it against The Fear in its titular book. His cloak is often used when the group needs to hide from Ak-Baba or other dangerous foes that can not be fought in a normal manner. The first use of the cloak is in the Forests of Silence, where the three use it initially to try and keep warm while in the tree to hide from the Wennbar. The Belt of Deltora has been used many times throughout the series that it would be quite difficult to record all uses of its magical properties. Therefore, just go with us and say that it is an incredibly important object to the plot of not only the first series, but the second and third as well. Relationships Relatives Appearances Trivia *In the end of The Sister of the South, Lief and Jasmine get married. *Lief could be named after Leif Erikson, a famous Viking and explorer. *The name Leif (see Leif Erikson above) is derived from the Old Norse name Leifr (nominative case), meaning "heir" or "descendant". *Because Lief is a direct descendant of Adin, who was also a descendant of Opal the Dreamer, Lief has Plains blood. He also has Toran blood, considering his mother Sharn is Toran. References Category:Characters Category:Main characters Category:Protagonists Category:Del (tribe) Category:Kings of Deltora Category:Royal family Category:Deltorans Category:Post-Adin Deltorans